


(i once was poison ivy, but) now I'm your daisy

by water_poet



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Alternate Universe - Age Changes, Angry Kissing, Beet | Bede-centric, Canon Compliant, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Hate Sex, Locker Room, Post-Canon, Song: Don't Blame Me (Taylor Swift), Teasing, Texting, super cash money of Pokemon to have gender neutral locker rooms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2020-02-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:33:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22927255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/water_poet/pseuds/water_poet
Summary: "So this is how it begins" he says as she takes his hand.He pulls her close, breath hot against her ear. "See you in the lockers after the show, eh, rival?"
Relationships: Beet | Bede/Yuuri | Gloria
Comments: 6
Kudos: 74





	(i once was poison ivy, but) now I'm your daisy

**Author's Note:**

> Bederia cuz he's a cutie
> 
> Angry locker room makeout sesh after a heated battle. A common occurrence, to release teen angst and frustration. But whoops Bede fell in love. Luckily Gloria did too.
> 
> Aged up, 16-18 years

He spends most of his free time in the woods, trailing his fingertips across the velvet mushrooms and watching as particles of light scatter from his touch.  
  
Opal's not too fond of the habit. His gloomy face illuminated by the fluorescent lights tends to unnerve potential visitors and challengers. Bede keeps at it, secure in the knowledge that he's grown to know these woods better than an old gym leader withering away backstage.  
  
Aside from wandering the forest, he throws himself into his studies. He reads assigned books twice over, highlighting and annotating as he does. He pores over all of Opal's previous quizzes, scribbling stats on the back of his hand. Opal wants him to take it slow, as she does, but Bede's never been one to let others overtake him.  
  
Except the new Champion, but he tries not think about that.  
  
The off-season comes and goes and a week before the Challenge begins, Opal officially makes him the gym leader. Like with everything she does, it's a show, and like with everything Bede does, Gloria is there in the front row, grinning.  
  
He refuses to make eye contact, even as Gloria cheers out his name.  
  
He skips the after party and sits in a clearing in the woods, bouncing rocks off a mushroom while Hatterene chases Litwicks through the tall grass. Bede sighs and tosses his head back. The woods smell like dust and sunlight and an orchard. It's a mysterious, hypnotic kind of cocktail, made to draw people in and keep them there.  
  
"Hey"  
  
Bede curses and the Litwicks scatter. Hatterene is by his side in a moment, the air humming with psychic energy.  
  
But Gloria isn't even a little afraid.  
  
"Jumpy, aren't you?" she says, and he resents her. The dimming glow from the mushrooms reflects soft against her skin. She looks so ethereal in the light, a fairy queen.  
Gloria sits next to him, watching for a long moment as Hatterene wanders back into the grass.  
  
"I didn't see you at the after party" she says.  
  
Bede doesn't look at her. "I guess I didn't feel like going" he sniffs.  
  
Gloria is smiling through her next words. "So you came out here to pout?"  
  
Bede's knuckles flash white as he clenches his fists, standing abruptly and summoning Hatterene to her Pokéball as she coos in annoyance.  
  
"What I do outside of the stadium - or why I do it - is none of your business, Champion" he snaps, marching past Gloria with his chin held high. His shoulder brushes against hers and even in the thick, misty air of the forest she smells like cinnamon and raspberries.  
  
Her face scrunches in frustration. "I'm just trying to help, Bede!" she huffs, self righteous and dramatic. Maybe she should have been the one to be Opal's heir after all.  
  
Bede doesn't look back.  
  


* * *

  
The last few days of the off season pass and Bede's in the stadium again, face red under the hot stare of the lights. His shoes are too tight. His skin prickles with spikes of anxiety.  
  
Gloria is perfect, and he hates her for it, especially when she catches his eye and smiles in her soft, childish way. There's a lump in his throat and he looks away.  
  
The introductory battles shake the stadium. Gloria bests Raihan again and now Bede is staring her down, wondering if she feels even a fraction of the storm in his chest. She's still immaculate, cheeks flushed, a few stray wisps of hair falling over her eye.  
  
"May the best woman win" she says, and Bede glares even as her hand feels firm and small in his.  
  
She winks and he doesn't remember much else until she's holding her hands up in victory and the shifting colors of spotlight make her glow iridescent pinks and blues.  
  
"So this is how it begins" he says as she takes his hand. He pulls her close, breath hot against her ear. "See you in the lockers after the show, eh, rival?"  
  
His voice dips low on the last word and her eyes widen. He hears the sharp hiss as her breath catches in her throat but he pulls away because they've already lingered too long. Someone has already noticed.  
  
The crowd sings Gloria's praises and she smiles, raising her hands to the sky as Bede sits back, watching. The stadium grass smells like asphalt and he can feel Gloria's heartbeat in his throat, rapid and excited and alive. She pretends everything is fine. She smiles like a poster child and Bede leaves, all but forgotten.  
  
He doesn't care, not anymore. He has found his power over her. And they both know she won't back down from a challenge.  
  


* * *

  
Gloria gasps as Bede slams her against the tiled walls of the shower, the noise swallowed up by his plush lips on hers.  
  
"I fucking hate you" he says, and her laugh is warm against his aching heart.  
  
"I know" she says. Her mouth is hot and her tongue leaves stripes of cold mint across the roof of his mouth. It burns his nose and he growls into her mouth, pulling her even closer as her fingers tangle in his curls.  
  
"Fuck" Gloria gasps. Her nails dig into his scalp. "Bloody...Wooloo head..."  
  
Bede bites her lip and crescent moons of burning pain erupt on his head, shooting down his spine. He hates her, more than anything, but he can't be away from her.  
  
Their tongues press together and Gloria whines like a Boltund in heat. Bede mouthes along her jaw and her neck, her hands wandering across his body. He can feel the heat of her fingertips through the thin jersey of his uniform, like beads of sunlight trailing down his back.  
  
The sounds of the escapade bounce across the tile, gasps and whispers building like the wind through the tall grass. Bede's ears are ringing and he steps back suddenly, lungs aching.  
  
Gloria's cheeks are red and her lips are swollen but she's still disgustingly perfect. There are Butterfrees in his stomach and Bede hates her so much.  
  
She reaches for him. There's no witty comeback, no clever retort. Her eyes are like starlight.  
  
"Bede..."  
  
He marches away, nearly slamming into Kabu on his way out.  
  


* * *

  
_Opal gave me ur number._  
  
Bede groans and stares at the ceiling. The white expanse stares back, colors flashing across his vision until he's forced to blink.  
  
_Delete it, then. Or I'll block you._  
  
_U won't_  
  
She's right and he waits for the cold, sharp sting of hatred to fill his throat but instead it's like there's a summer breeze over his heart.  
  
_Then don't text me._  
  
He rolls over in his bed, watching the little typing bubble appear and disappear on his screen. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see his bookshelf, sagging under the weight of its cargo.  
  
_Fine well talk in person. Tmrw at 8. Hammerlocke cafe_  
  
_No. Leave me alone._  
  
His finger hovers over the send button. He ought to do it. But he remembers the way Gloria's eyes went nearly black and the way her flushed skin stood out sharp against the white tiles and he chews the scab on his lip from where she bit him.  
  
_Fine. I will see you then._  
  
_:)_  
  
He swallows the lump in his throat and sighs.  
  


* * *

  
He had intended it to be a one time thing. Let Gloria talk about whatever and shut her down firmly. Instead she talked about how Boltund had chewed the cord of her lamp and short-circuited the whole apartment and Bede listened.  
  
"His fur was all stood up, it was - "  
  
She stops. "You're smiling"  
  
Bede's grip on his teacup tightens as he lets the smile drop. Gloria looks smug and he doesn't hate it but he's tired of running away so he he only glares.  
  
"People smile" he says curtly.  
  
"Not you" Gloria replies, and before he can reply she continues in a softer voice, "It was nice"  
  
_I'm not nice!_  
  
He wants to snap, scathing like a lash across her cheeks. But there's no anger anymore, the bubbles escaping out his throat like dandelion seeds. He wonders if he really is nice. A traitorous part of him hopes he is, if it makes Gloria smile like that.  
  
They walk through the city afterwards, as the sun is starting to set and the shadows are beginning to loom fuzzy and strange in the orange light. Gloria drags him into the shops and signs autographs from fans and Bede watches from her side.  
  
"You're smiling again" Gloria says softly, as she accepts a tiny vinyl Sobble figure to sign.  
  
Bede doesn't let the smile drop. "People smile" he repeats, and his voice is fond and he almost hates himself for it.  
  
He kisses her again, just as she's boarding the taxi and the driver is adjusting the Corviknight's harness. Her face is red and his probably matches but they both pretend not to notice.  
  


* * *

  
Growing up, Bede never had hobbies. He was always busy, even then, studying and training and trying to prove to Rose that he was the best of the best.  
  
Nowadays he's torn because as much as he wants to hate Gloria for ruining that, Rose had turned out to be a psychotic, narcissistic maniac in the end. So in some strange twist of fate, Gloria was both his undoing and his freedom. His end and his beginning. The hatred is bittersweet.  
  
The next time they meet in the locker after a practice match, Gloria grinds into his knee until she comes weakly against him, her head lolling to the side as Bede bites at her neck.  
  
"I hate you" he reminds her, and every time the overused words are worn dull and smooth.  
  
"You don't have to" she says.  
  
By the time the next Challenge season rolls around, it's all but official. Their relationship, that is. Fuck buddies is probably the right term, but Bede hates to curse because even after Rose had been locked away the words taste like copper.  
  
Whatever they are, it's driving Bede insane.  
  
They kiss in the lockers after matches and some nights Gloria takes him home and he wakes up in her bed with Charizard sheets and he wonders if he's in love.  
  
He's never been in love before. It never sounded all that appealing. And yet...  
  
"Gloria?"  
  
"Hm?" she asks, not opening her eyes and she shifts her body towards him. The sun filtering through her curtains glows on her collarbones and chin. There is a Torchic pox scar on her forehead and a scab on the center of her lip. Bede sighs.  
  
"Why don't we do this for real?" he asks.  
  
Gloria laughs, reaching towards his cheek. "Do what?"  
  
"Date. Fall in love. Get married. That kind of thing" he says, because it's early and Gloria is beautiful.  
  
The gold in her cheeks flushes rosy and warm. "You want to date me?"  
  
"I don't know" he says truthfully.  
  
Gloria smiles and strokes his cheek for a moment before rolling over and nestling back into her pillow. "Wake me when you know, then" she says playfully.  
  
Soon she's snoring softly and Bede is staring up at the ceiling counting the wooden planks and thinking.  
  
_Why don't we do this for real?_  
  
He knows the answer. His heart is aching. The world had almost ended once.  
  
"Gloria" he breathes, the word somewhere between a question and an answer.  
  
Gloria rolls over and presses against him, her chest rising and falling against his own. Her breath is steady, fast asleep. He presses his cheek to her head and she smells like lavender and mint.  
  
For real this time.  
  
"I love you."

**Author's Note:**

> Sobble is best boi don't @ me
> 
> (If you picked Scorbunny knowing its final evo then ur a furry sorry I don't make the rules)


End file.
